Runners standing on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and relieving themselves in the Mahim creek below was hardly a sight that organisers of Mumbai Marathon may have expected to see.
Driven to the edge due to the total lack of toilets at the starting point in Bandra, hundreds of half-marathon runners thought little about standing on the sea link and answering nature’s call in full public view at the crack of dawn.
“I was looking forward to seeing the sunrise from the sea link and this sore sight spoilt it all,” said Adesh Divekar, who himself had to sneak into the fire brigade building near the starting point to empty his bladder before taking guard at the line.
For the nearly 13,000 half-marathon runners, there were just four portable toilets at the half-marathon entry gate and hundreds of runners — especially the women — queued up outside each of them for their turn, while others just eased themselves on the road opposite the nearby slums.
“It was ironic that the affluent folks of Mumbai were reduced to the plight of slum-dwellers,” said Meeta Prabhu, who had to hold herself all the way till Worli, where she eventually found a portable toilet — and lost precious five minutes of her run time in the bargain.
The worst condition was at the finishing line, where thousands of runners were bottlenecked at the entrance gate to Azad Maidan and it took a painful 30 minutes before they could reach the hold area where the portable toilet blocks were installed.
“The wait and chaos after the run was more excruciating than the actual run. This is inhuman,” said Sheena Joseph, who had to endure another half hour of crushing crowd to get to the refreshments — an orange, an apple and a packet of crushed biscuits.
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